Swimming at the 2012 Summer Olympics – Men's 200 metre individual medley


The men's 200 metre individual medley event at the 2012 Summer Olympics took place on 1–2 August at the London Aquatics Centre in London, United Kingdom.
Adding to an unprecedented medal tally to become the most decorated Olympian of all time, Michael Phelps made another milestone as the first male swimmer ever to defend his third straight Olympic title in the same individual event with a touch-out triumph over Ryan Lochte. Dominating the race from the start, Phelps held off a final showdown from Lochte on the freestyle leg to claim his sixteenth gold and twentieth career medal in 1:54.27. Meanwhile, Lochte came up short in the other half of a difficult double, as he produced his eleventh overall for the silver in 1:54.90, tying an all-time record with Mark Spitz and Matt Biondi. Hungary's László Cseh powered home with the bronze in 1:56.22 to keep the podium intact for the second straight Games.
Brazil's Thiago Pereira finished fourth in 1:56.74, and was followed in fifth and sixth by Japanese duo Kosuke Hagino and Ken Takakuwa. Great Britain's James Goddard and Germany's Markus Deibler also vied for an Olympic medal to round out the historic finale.
Earlier in the semifinals, South Africa's Chad le Clos also earned a spot for the championship final, but later scratched to focus on the 100 m butterfly, allowing Deibler to join the roster. Meanwhile, Austria's Markus Rogan, double silver medalist and four-time Olympian, was disqualified for an illegal dolphin kick after a technical turn from backstroke to breaststroke.

Records

Prior to this competition, the existing world and Olympic records were as follows.

Results

Heats

RankHeatLaneNameNationalityTimeNotes
134László Cseh1:57.20Q
254Ryan Lochte1:58.03Q
343Kosuke Hagino1:58.22Q
444Michael Phelps1:58.24Q
555Thiago Pereira1:58.31Q
635James Goddard1:58.56Q
753Markus Deibler1:58.61Q
845Markus Rogan1:58.66Q
946Ken Takakuwa1:58.82Q
1057Henrique Rodrigues1:59.37Q
1132Chad le Clos1:59.45Q
1258Gal Nevo1:59.56Q
1356Daniel Tranter1:59.70Q
1451Vytautas Janušaitis1:59.84Q
1533Joe Roebuck2:00.04Q
1626Andrew Ford2:00.28Q
1723Raphaël Stacchiotti2:00.38
1831Diogo Carvalho2:00.40
1938Marcin Cieślak2:00.45
2048Federico Turrini2:00.63
2137Darian Townsend2:00.67
2224Bradley Ally2:00.85
2336Wang Shun2:00.85
2425Alexander Tikhonov2:01.00
2527Martin Liivamägi2:01.09
2621Andreas Vazaios2:01.23
2742Philip Heintz2:01.32
2828David Karasek2:01.35NR
2922Taki Mrabet2:01.41
3041Wu Peng2:01.43
3147Jayden Hadler2:01.54
3215Jung Won-yong2:03.33
3314Maksym Shemberev2:03.40
3413Nuttapong Ketin2:03.91
3552Dávid Verrasztó2:04.53
3616Ensar Hajder2:05.70

Semifinals

Semifinal 1

Semifinal 2

Final